CONNECT

With the unavoidable amount of coverage of issues around immigration and deportation in the U.S., there’s one prevailing narrative among a portion of Black people. There’s an argument that Black activists, organizers and others in our communities need not put our time and efforts into addressing immigration because “that’s not our issue.”

This is an entirely nonsensical (albeit very much typical) stance for several reasons: [Read more…]

A PSA for my fellow Gay men, and perhaps anyone else in the LGBTQ community.

I’m gonna start this by laying out a little scenario:

Let’s say you’re a Gay man who primarily has non-LGBTQ (a.k.a. cisgender-heterosexual or “straight”) men as friends (which you likely applaud yourself for, daily…but that’s another issue). Y’all are just casually hanging out and they’re all talking about sex. They’re exchanging stories of their recent “conquests,” and are having an absolute ki. And then, you try to chime about your last sexual experience, in the exact same way that they just did.

…but you feel the good vibes noticeably drop. It gets awkward, and you immediately get the hint that you should back off from your story. You deflate, retreat into your own head (where you’ll likely quietly replay that moment in a cringeworthy loop), and let them take back over the conversation.

This is likely not an unfamiliar experience for Gay men who hang around folks who are non-LGBTQ. And many people’s go-to response may be to just roll with it and not see it as a big deal. But let’s be clear about one thing: [Read more…]

This is the final part of a multi-series blog post, concerning instances of violence against Gay men within the Black community, and different factors that feed into these incidents. In the first part, I discussed the murder of Giovanni Melton, a 14 year-old boy killed by his own father. The second part goes over the case of Gemmel Moore, murdered by an affluent white Gay man. In the third part, I went into ways that both WhiteGayze™ and Black cishet folks routinely fail the LGBTQ people in our community. And in this final piece, I’ll be expanding on Black cishets further.

No need for a fancy lead-in. Let’s just pick up where we left off from part 3.

Black cishet men, in particular, draw the most ire from me. Not only are they a primary source of direct violence towards Black LGBTQ people, but the so-called “woke allies” of that demographic refuse to step up and say anything. There’s no real social clout to be gained from affirming Black LGBTQ identities…and, in fact, there’s more to lose. As I’ve said in previous work, in this colonized idea of Black masculinity, “Gay” is considered the worst thing a man can be. Therefore, men are deathly afraid of any proximity to it. So, if cishet men were to stand up and affirm us (like their performative politic would clam that they do), then they stand to be deemed “Gay,” which leads to the risk of being ostracized. And since most cishet men are spineless trash and lack the fortitude required to actually stand up as an individual, they’re unwilling to risk the potential backlash that comes with centering Black Gay men, Trans women and other Black LGBTQ identities in their day-to-day work.

Now, cishet men are the absolute worst offenders, but I think we also have to be honest in acknowledging that some cishet Black Feminists/Womanists are also often terribly inadequate in putting their “intersectional” theory into actual practice. They’ll spout the theory all day (again, for retweets and follows…some of these folks depend on their “platforms,” as well), but will turn around and be as silent as their cishet male counterparts in the times when it really counts.

This is the 3rd of a multi-part series, where I highlight how this system often works against men/boys who live in the intersection of Blackness and Queerness. In the first part, I discussed the murder of Giovanni Melton, a 14 year-old boy killed by his own father. The second part goes over the case of Gemmel Moore, murdered by an affluent white Gay man. Here, I’ll be discussing the overall theme, of how the general disregard for Black LGBTQ people enabled both of these tragedies.

I decided to focus on the murders of Giovanni and Gemmel because I felt like both cases, together, highlight conflict that all Black Gay men (and Black LGBTQ folks, overall) face. There’s risk of discrimination, erasure and violence in most any space that we’re in. There’s anti-Blackness in many LGBTQ spaces, and anti-Queerness in many Black spaces.

Black LGBTQ folks are constantly put in a position of having to choose between race and sexual/gender identity. Worse, not only are we expected to “pick a side,” but it never is to benefit us. WhiteGayze™ expect us to fight for Gay/LGBTQ causes through a white-centered lens, with no regards to race. Black people (primarily cisgender & heterosexual) expect us to fight for Black causes, but through the lens of cishet men (i.e. “Race first”**), with no regards to sexual/gender identity. And any time we try to fully affirm ourselves, we’re labeled a “distraction.”

Truth of the matter is, the goal isn’t to advance true liberation by subverting white supremacist, colonial systems. The real goal of many people is to see Black cisgender, heterosexual, able-bodied men and/or WhiteGayze™ sit in the position that white, cishet, able-bodied men currently hold. And they want us to happily and quietly take every bit of their abuse in the process. [Read more…]

This is the second part, of a 3-part series, where I’m going over instances of fatal violence against Black Gay/Queer men, in order to highlight ways that the system often works against people who live in the intersection of being both Black and Gay/Queer. In the first part, I discussed the murder of Giovanni Melton, by his own father. In this piece, I’ll be discussing the Gemmel Moore and the systemic factors around his case.

[Trigger/Content Warning for anti-Black murder]

UPDATE: In the wake of issues coming up around an article on Gemmel Moore, published by The Root (which I’m not linking), I find it pertinent to include additional information, where facts around Gemmel’s case were clarified. Particularly since, even though I do not present myself as a journalist, and Angry Black Hoemo is nowhere near as visible as The Root, there may be folks who are learning of this case from here for the first time. Although issues around sex work very much intersect with this case, it’s important to clarify that sexual contact didn’t take place. Ed Buck’s fetish was specifically injecting Black men with meth. Please be sure to check out Jasmyne’s response to The Root’s article, and keep her website and social media bookmarked, as well as Justice 4 Gemmel, to be able to keep up with the most accurate and up-to-date info.

On July 27, 2017, a young Black Gay man, named Gemmel “Juelz” Moore, died due to a meth overdose. This would be a tragedy, in and of itself, but the kicker is that this overdose occurred in the home of affluent democratic party donor, and white Gay man, Ed Buck. It was initially deemed an “accidental” overdose, but is now being investigated as a possible homicide.

Gemmel was in the home of Buck, on an appointment as an escort/sex worker. Ed Buck has a very specific fetish, where he likes to inject copious amounts of methamphetamine into men. He specifically targets Black men to carry out this fetish. Jasmyne Cannick has been one of the few people (that I’ve seen) consistently working and reporting on this story, and she’s been able to find several other Black men who reported very similar experiences with Buck. Gemmel Moore’s encounter just happened to end more tragically than the several other Black Gay men who have been targeted by Buck. [Read more…]